Method of deleaving and bursting continuous form stationery



Feb 7, 1961 J. J, KEssLER 2,970,784

METHOD OF DELEAVTNG ANO BuRsTTNG CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY Filed oct.19, 195s 2 sheets-sheet 1 J. J. KEssLER 2,970,784 METHOD oF DELEAVTNGAND BuRsTING CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 7, 1961Filed oct. 19, 195e ,TME

METHOD OF DELEAVING AND BURSTWG CONTINUOUS FORM STATIONERY Jack J.Kessler, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Narco, Incorporated, a corporationof Illinois Filed Oct. 19, 1956, Ser. No. 617,077 3 Claims. (Cl.242-562) This invention is concerned with a method of handlinginterleaved continuous-form stationery and more particularly with themethod of separating such stationery into individual form lengths whileremoving the carbon strips from interleaved relation with thestationery.

This application is a continuation-impart of my copending applicationSerial No. 544,197, tiled November 1, 1955.

Many business offices use a large amount of continuous form stationeryinterleaved with one-time carbon strips. After the stationery has beenwritten upon by one type or another of writing machine, the carbonstrips must be removed from the stationery st-rips so that it may bediscarded. Additionally, the stationery strips are often divided atcross lines of weakening into individual form lengths.

Generally the procedure followed by most business oces in separating thecontinuous form stationery into its components has required the use oftwo machines. The stationery is rst put through a deleaving machinewhich separates the stationery strips from the carbon strips. The carbonstrips are discarded and the stationery strips thereafter handledindividually. Any of the stationery strips requiring to be broken intoits individual form lengths was thereafter put through a burstingmachine which would separate the strip into its individual form lengths.Each stationery strip was put through the bursting machine in sequencesince the machine can ordinarily handle but a single strip at one time.

The method of the present invention uses the bursting A machine that isordinarily found in most business oices using-continuous formstationery. The method of operating the machine, however, is differentfrom that previously practiced since the deleaving of the stationery andthe bursting of the stationery strips is handled in a single machine.

It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide a newand improved method for deleaving and bursting continuous-formstationery.

A further object of the mventlon 1s to prov1de a method of handlingcontinuous-form stationery such that deleaving of carbon strips and thebursting of stationery strips into form lengths may be carried onsimultaneously.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide for thebursting and deleaving of continuousform stationery with a singlebursting machine so as to eliminate the need for a separate deleavingmachine.

`Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description'of a preferred embodiment of amachine for carrying out the method, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a' diagrammatic side elevational view of the operative partsof a bursting machine illustrated as carrying out the first steps of theinvention;

` Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the movable plate on thelower pack tray,

`Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the'trimming deviceand stationery employed in the machine and 'in the method;

4Figure 4`is a view similar to Figure 1 showing addi- 2,973,784 FatentedFeb. 7, 1961 tional steps in the method of the present invention; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a portionof the weight rack onthe upper pack tray.

`In order to illustrate the method of operation of the' presentinvention, the drawings diagramrnatically illustrate parts of afive-part continuous-form stationery as it would be handled in theapparatus. In Figure 1, illustrating the rst steps in the invention, thetop three stripsV of the stationery are illustrated whereas the bottomtwoz"v strips are left off for clarity of illustration in the drawings.ln general, the method of the invention contem-` plates that thecontinuous-form stationery will be handied in the bursting machine toboth burst the top std-4 tionery strip and deleave the carbon strips.Addition-v aiiy, the machine is used to trim the perforated feed b'ands`from the margins of the continuous stationery.

The bursting machine used with the invention may be of conventionalform, and, as illustrated in Figure 1,: may have a pair of frontcoacting bursting rolls 4 and S driven at a peripheral speed slightly inexcess of the peripheral speed of the adjacent rear coacting bursting`rolls 6 and 7. in operation, the front bursting rolls gripping theleading edge of the stationery strip willy cause it to part from thestrip along a line of weakening", so that an individual form F may beburst from the strip S which is fed toward the front bursting rolls by'rear rolls 6 and 7. A support 8 between the rolls" prevents thestationery strip from sagging-prior to its entry into the bight of thefront rolls.

'the bursting machines are usually equipped with a' trimming devicegenerally indicated 9 including alower roll iti against which the uppercutter ll, more clearly illustrated in Figure 3, rolls in order toremove the feed band l2 from the stationery strip S. n

in following the method of the present invention, thev continuous-formstationery, after being filled out by a. writing machine, is placed upona shelf or pack tray 13"' at the rear of the bursting machine and is ledfrom th'ej shelf upwardly to the bursting machine. In the presentillustration, the top stationery strip Sis 'shown adja-,l cent a carbonstrip C and the third strip S" is the next` adjacent stationery stripand the fourth strip is a carbony strip C. Only these four strips areshown in Figure'l'j so that the operation will be clear although itshould bef understood that the illustration is concerned with a iive"vvpart form which would include tive strips in all, two' of which arecarbon strips. The stationery is led upwardlyf over a pair of guide rodsi4 and 15 to a driven roll 16"` with an idler 17 bearing thereagainst.From the drivenif roll 16 the stationery advances through the trimmer 9"where the marginal portions or feed bands 12 are removed from all of thestrips and'then directed down-VV wardly to a wastebasket or similarreceptacle. The three superposed strips pass onwardly toward thebursting rolls;` however, the carbon strip C and next stationery strip Spass over an idler roller i and are deflected down-1y wardly against achute guide 20 so that they travel downwardly as indicated by the arrowand refold in a zigzagf form into the pack 2i. The pack 2l isconveniently supported on a shelf or lower pack tray 22 on afratriewhich also supports the shelf 13. At the point that the carbonstrip and stationery strip S were deflected, the" uppermost stationerystrip passed on intothe bursting" rolls.

The stationery has been controled during ithe initial. steps justdescribed not only by the feed rollers of the; bursting machine, butalso by the weight rack 35 and movable or adjustable plates 36 and 37 onthe upper andv lower pack trays respectively. The weight of the rack" 3Srests directly on the pack of stationery on ,the upper" tray 13 thusresisting any tendency for the pull of the' rollers 16 and 17 to unfoldmore than one fold of'sta-'l tionery at a time. The weight may be variedby changing the size of weight rod 38 as desired. Ambient temperaturesand moisture .conditions as Well as size and. kind of paper involved mayinfluence the amount of weight desirable for satisfactory operation. Therack 35 has ears 39 loosely embracing the plate 36 in order to permitonly vertical movement of the rack.

The other control of the stationery during the precedixig' steps is therefolding' control afforded by the movable plates 36 and 37. As will benoted in Figure 1, each plate may be adjusted in position betweenextreme positions 36a to 366 and 37a to 37b respectively. It isdesirable to adjust the lower space into which the p ack refolds as wellas the upper space, to just slightly in excess of the pack width. Suchadjustment aids in controlling orderly unfolding and refolding into thezigzag folded pack form. Also it should be noted that the stationaryplates 34 and 44 always form one Wall of the pack receiving tray and arealways in fixed relation to rolls 24 and 29. This latter arrangementaids in carrying out the additional steps of the method here involved.

In structure, the movable plates 36 and 37 are secured for slidingmovement on the upper tray 13. As best seen in Figure 2, the plate 37 isprovided with finger-like tabs 40 loosely gripping the respective edgesof the tray 13. The movable plate 36 is provided with similar tabs 41. v

,Following the above steps of the method, the top stationery strip hasbeen deleaved from the continuousform stationery and burst into itsindividual form lengths in the machine. The remainder of the stationeryhas been refolded into a zigzag pack with a carbon strip uppermost. Allof the strips have been trimmed and are now free of the marginallypunched feed band.

The next step in the method is illustrated more clearly in Figure 4. Thecarbon strip C, the second stationery strip S', and an additional carbonstrip C are shown in this illustration although in a live-part formthere is the lower-most stationery strip which is not illustrated. Thepack 21 has been lifted from the lower shelf 22 to the upper shelf 13 toprepare the pack 21 for passage through the machine in the next step ofthe deleaving and bursting.

The supporting structure for the shelves 13 and 22 is provided with apair of standards 23 supporting a `narrow roller 24 driven throughappropriate gears 25 and a motor26 supported on a plate 27. The carbonstrip C, which is uppermost on the pack 21, is wound about the roller24.V The stationery strip S immediately below the carbon strip C iscarried over the guide rods and into the bursting rolls in the samemanner as the stationery strip S was in the illustration of Figure 1.The rolls of the bursting machine and the roller 24 which is used towind up the top carbon strip are both driven in timed relation so thatthe top two strips, namely the carbon strip C and the stationery stripS' are pulled from the pack 21 at the same rate. Pulling the top twostrips from the pack 21 causes the remaining strips to be lifted so thatthey may refold in a new zigzag pack 2S on the lower shelf 22 asillustrated for the carbon strip C'.

In order to assist the carbon strip C' and the lower stationery strip(not shown) to refold on the shelf 22 within the zigzag pack 28, adriven roller 29 is positioned above the pack 28 to help advance thestrips. The strips are merely passed over the roller 29 and are notgripped in a positive drive manner; however, sulficient frictionaldriving force is applied to the strips to aid in their advancement. Thepositioning of the zigzag packs on the upper and lower trays against thestationary plates 34 and 44by use of the adjustable plates 36 and 37permits the angle of wrap of the carbon strip C around the roller 29 toremain within tixed limits even though the length of the forms putthrough the machine may vary. This feature has been found to contributetoA accurate and satisfactory feeding and refolding without launching upthe carbon. The weight tray 35 may also `the roller 29 in timed relationto the carbon take-up roller 24 and the feed rolls of the burstingmachine. The fixed position plate 34 prevents the strips passing overroller 29 from becoming fouled with the pack 21.A

In the operation of the method as illustrated in Figure 4, the topcarbon strip is removed from the pack by being wound upon the roler 24.The next adjacent stationery strip is taken through the bursting rollsand burst into its individual form lengths. There remains on the lowershelf 22 a zigzag pack comprising the uppermost carbon strip and thelowermost stationery strip which may be put through the machine againexactly in the same Way as illustrated for the pack 21 in Figure 4.

Thus, in the present invention, a single bursting machine is equipped toboth deleave and burst the strip of continuous-form type. The operationsrequired in order to handle a multipart form are decreased by one overthe methods previously employed and a corresponding amount of time issaved. Also, the business office saves the expense of a deleavingmachine since the deleaving may be carried on with their burstingmachine with very slight modification.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness ofunderstanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understoodtherefrom, for some` modifications will be obvious to those skilledinthe art.v

I claim: l. The method of deleaving and bursting marginally punchedcontinuous form stationery interleaved with onetime carbon, comprisingin sequence the steps of ad-.

the bursting rolls immediately following said trimming;l deectmg thebalance of the interleaved stationery andcarbon strips away from the topstrip and folding said balance in a zigzag pack; then separatelygripping and pulling the carbon andstationery strips upwardly from thepack in timed relation causing the remaining interleaved strips to turnover into an adjacent refolded pack; discarding the carbon strip andbursting said uppermost stationery strip in said bursting rolls.

2. The method as specified in claim 1 and including the further steps ofwinding the carbon strip upon a roll and driving said roll and thebursting rolls in timed relation to pull the uppermost carbon andstationery strips from the pack at the same rate.

3. The method as specified in claim 1 and includingthe further step4 oflaterally directing interleaved strips remaining upon pulling theuppermost carbon and stationery strips from the pack to refold in azig-zag pack.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNTTEDSTATES PATENT oFFTcE CERTIFICATION OF CORRECTION Patent No.` 2,970,784 pFebruary 7, 1961 Jack J., Kessler 1t is hereby certifiedthat errorappears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that thesaid Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

the grant, lines 2 and ll, and in the heading to the printedspecification, lines 4 and 5, for "Narco, incorporated" read Uarc'o,Incorporated en.

Signed and sealed this 18th day o July 1961, --w

C SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

